The portable audio products sold by Bose Corporation have been marketed as the SoundLink models. [7] Reviewers praised the unit’s audio quality, but criticized the high price and lack of a microphone (to enable its use as a speakerphone).
It included a rechargeable battery that was rated at up to 8 hours of playback at moderate volume levels. [11] The appearance is very similar to its predecessor,[10] with the biggest change being the folding arrangement of the front cover.
[21] This featured the same sound quality and shape as the original SoundLink Mini with a few subtle changes. The USB charging port also allowed the user to install software updates through btu.bose.com when available. The SoundLink Mini II was quietly discontinued in late 2018, favoring the newly released Revolve and Revolve+. On 31 October 2019, Bose announced the SoundLink Mini II Special Edition.
The Special Edition is available in 2 colors, Triple Black and Luxe Silver. Some salient features are immersive & 360 degrees sound, water-resistant design (IPX4), durable, seamless aluminium body, NFC pairing for secure connectivity to your NFC-enabled devices. The SoundLink Color was introduced in 2015 as Bose’s portable Bluetooth loudspeaker. To date, it is the cheapest and smallest Bluetooth speaker offered by Bose.
The main body is made up of silicon rubber, making it extremely durable and IPX7 water resistant. This speaker uses a Micro USB charger with a charging cable included in the box.
Bose SoundLink Bluetooth Mobile Speaker II review: Bose’s Bluetooth speaker gets even better
Those modifications, plus a tweak to the design of the integrated protective cover/stand (it comes in leather or nylon) and the system’s ability to now remember up to six devices for automatic pairing, are the key updates. But the landscape has changed, with competition in the high-end Bluetooth speaker realm now more fierce than ever, with products such as the $300 Jawbone Big Jambox . As I said in my review of the original SoundLink Wireless Mobile, Bose seems to have taken a few design cues from Apple: along with the compact shape and clean, elegant design, the unit is equipped with a magnetic protective combined cover and stand that automatically turns the speaker off when closed. Not surprisingly, Bose is selling additional nylon and leather covers in a wider variety of colors for $30 and $50, respectively, in case you want to make a change later.
But you get the leather cover from the get-go only if you step up to the higher-end version of speaker, which costs an extra $50 and has what the company calls an “automotive-grade” chrome trim. I assume Bose went with the new cover design so you could prop the speaker up in narrower spaces without having the stand extend back those few extra inches.
But while the SoundLink Bluetooth Mobile II speaker looks sleek, perhaps even a bit dainty, and would seem more suited to indoor listening, Bose has made a point of touting how durable and rugged the unit is. Note: In my tests with the original SoundLink Wireless Mobile I couldn’t adjust the volume with an iPhone 3G, so it’s possible to run into some snafus depending on how ancient your phone is.
This thing can actually fill a medium-size room with sound and easily blows away the smaller Jawbone Jambox ($179 list). With the Wilco album “The Whole Love,” the mellower, acoustic guitar tracks sounded rich and detailed, like what you’d get from a larger speaker. Once again they noted that the bass didn’t have quite the oomph they would’ve liked, but it’s just not fair to expect subwoofer-level performance from a speaker the size of a hardcover book. Since the original Bose SoundLink Wireless came out more compact, portable Bluetooth speakers have it the market, including the highly rated Jawbone Big Jambox.
In fact, I’ve gotten several e-mails from readers asking me whether they should buy the SoundLink Bluetooth Mobile Speaker II or the Big Jambox. If you’re comparing this speaker with smaller products like the original $179 Jambox, this Bose is a little more than twice as heavy, but it sounds much better and plays much louder.
In the end, while the SoundLink Bluetooth Mobile Speaker II may no longer be in a class by itself, it remains an impressive, well-built product. If you’re on the fence about getting one, it’s worth noting that Bose offers a 30-day money-back guarantee on the product, so you can try before you’re fully committed, which is a good thing considering the speaker is fairly pricey at $300 (or $350 with the leather cover).
Not everyone will think it’s worth that kind of dough, but I suspect most people won’t suffer a case of buyer’s remorse.
Bose SoundLink Mobile speaker review: Bose SoundLink Mobile speaker
For the uninitiated, Bluetooth speakers let you stream music and other audio from any smartphone and many tablets (including the iPad) wirelessly. There’s no need for network configurations–just a simple pairing procedure, and whatever you’re playing on your phone or tablet gets wirelessly sent to the speakers, whether it’s MP3 music, Spotify, Rdio, a baseball game, or a video soundtrack. Bose also seems to be taking a few cues from Apple: along with the compact shape and clean, elegant design, the SoundLink Wireless Mobile, starting at $300, is equipped with a magnetic protective combined cover and stand that automatically turns the speaker off when closed. But you only get the leather cover from the get-go if you step up to the higher-end version of speaker, which costs an extra $50 and has what the company calls an “automotive-grade” chrome trim.
And, not surprisingly, Bose is selling additional nylon and leather covers in a wider variety of colors for $30 and $50, respectively, in case you want to make a change later. The first thing you notice about the SoundLink Wireless mobile speaker when you pick it up is that while it may be small, it’s got some heft to it, weighing in at 2.78 pounds. But while the SoundLink Wireless Mobile speaker looks sleek, elegant, perhaps even a bit dainty, and would seem more suited to indoor listening, Bose has made a point of touting how durable and rugged the unit is. Further boosting its portability is the built-in rechargeable lithium ion battery, which is rated for 3 to 4 hours of use at high volume between charges.
We played the new Wilco album “The Whole Love” and the mellower, acoustical guitar tracks sounded rich and detailed, like what you’d get from a larger speaker.
We then hit it with some hip-hop, and our old standby test track, Snoop Dogg’s “Drop It Like It’s Hot,” sounded pretty solid, but as we ratcheted up the volume the heavy bass line did feel a bit subdued–or perhaps restrained is the better word. After plowing through a variety of other music, this reviewer tested the SoundLink Wireless with a jury of a few other editors here at CNET, and all of them came away impressed by how loud it played for its size and how full the sound was, particularly for a small Bluetooth speaker. Some noted that the bass didn’t have quite the oomph they would’ve liked, but it’s just not fair to expect subwoofer-level performance from a speaker the size of a hardcover book.
In terms of battery life, Bose rates the unit at 3 to 4 hours playing at loud volumes, but says you can get double that at “typical listening levels.”
Be First to Comment